The Laws of Flaw and Triumph
by erigstimloveles
Summary: Solo Mitsukai must deal with living in the Imperial Palace where Gaara lives. Romance is often awkward to sprout. Plus, his impending marriage doesn't help... Her experiences are kindred, bittersweet and heart-wrenching. A DON’T-MISS-FANFICTION!


**A/N: **Erhm… Hello there.

It's been awhile. :D How is everyone? I am Rin Owayo, the dubious and articulate (ooh, big words) author or this fanfic. (No duh).

I haven't been on fanfiction in a loooong time, so I'm getting used to the new layout that this site has.

ANYWAYS, BACK TO THE SHOW!

Brace yourselves, fans. This is a **GAARA **fanfic! WHAAA! I know, right? I'm NOT a Gaara fangirl, but I've felt an inexplicable urge to write one for him. Maybe I'll fall in love with Gaara during the process.

So this fanfic is for my buddy, J. She is a rabid Gaara fan and has a bunch of ideas of her own, but never actually written them. Since I'm such a swept-up-in-the-moment type of person, I want to write one for Gaara too!

Now, since this is my induction into this Gaara society, please teach me all you can! (bows)

Oh yea, and beware of OCCxGaara pairings.

…

_Plot: Solo Mitsukai came to Sunagakure to start her new life. Even at age 16, she is a strong-willed and determined girl, here to start fresh after the mysterious disappearance of her parents. But when the village stages a plan to find Gaara a bride because of his new Kage status, is Solo's new life turned upside down due to her accidental encounter with the new Kage? Story of plot twists and unexpected incidents. Her experiences are kindred, bittersweet and heart-wrenching. A DON'T-MISS-FANFICTION!_

**The Laws of Flaw and Triumph**

**Chapter I** _:: Accidental Encounter is Fate_

"What is this?!" The angry shopkeeper flung a few bright silver coins at the girl in front of him. "We don't take yer strange money here!" He hooted and waved her off.

"EEHH?" The girl cried, mouth agape as she watched the shopkeeper storm off. Her eyes scanned the silver coins in her hands. Indeed they were foreign coins, but she thought the Sand Village took all money! That's what the gatekeeper said, anyways.

"Mmmm…" The girl murmured inaudibly to herself, a little worry escaping her lips. She looked around the streets she sold. People rushed back and forth from all sides, exchanging goods and money. Aromas of all different foods floated about.

"What am I supposed to do…?" The dubious girl pondered as she walked ahead. "Should I stop and ask for help? If my money is no good here, what can I do?"

"YOU!" A voice screamed at her.

The girl turned around abruptly. "YES?" Her obedient reply was.

A tall man walked up to her, with an air of authority around him. "You just wandered into this village from the outer gates, little girl! How am I to know you're not an INTRUDER?" His booming question asked.

"Eh?" She shrank in fear. "I—uh…"

"YOUR NAME!"

"SOLO MITSUKAI! OJI-SAMA!" Her frightened reply came.

"OJI-SAMA?" His offended cries came. "DO I LOOK OLD ENOUGH TO BE AN OJI-SAMA?"

"…Eh?" Solo shrank some more. "Ano… I didn't mean to offend you, ni-sama…" She changed her address to "big brother".

"Unfortunately, I am no big brother either!" The angry man declared. "We do not know each other well enough, and from what I already know about YOU, you are a troublesome little girl!" He pointed his finger at her with authority.

"EH? BUT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW M—"

"QUIET!" He hollered. He took out a notepad and angrily scribbled down her name. "Solo Mitsukai, eh? What a strange name…" More scribbling madly.

She answered him in a friendly tone. "Actually, my real name is Sora. You see, Solo is kind of a bad nickname my friends gave me when we were litt—"

"DID I ASK FOR AN EXPLANATION??"

"NO, SIR!" Her scared answer came.

Some of the villagers walking around them whispered, haughtily.

"What noise!"

"Who are these two stupid looking people, gawking on the streets?"

"These days, without a _Captain for the guard squad in this village_, everything is just chaos!"

He grumbled a little. "Hmph! How troublesome. I'll just add some _defying superiors _notes under your name…" he scribbled some more stuff in his notepad.

Solo's eyes widened. "Eh? But I…" She stopped herself before getting another yelling.

"Well? What ARE you doing here in Sunagakure? Are you a resident or a visitor?" He asked.

"No, actually, I just moved here, sir." Her bubbly response was. "See?" She lifted her messenger bag, swung around her shoulders and the extra bag tied across her back. "I'm just about to find my living quarters! Oh, kind sir, could you help me?"

He crinkled his nose. "I suppose…"

"Great!" Solo exclaimed. "Where is—" She took out a piece of crinkled paper and read the messy handwriting on it, squinting. "—The Imperial residence?"

The man's eyes widened. "IMPOSTER! THE IMPERIAL RESIDENCE? THAT'S WHERE ALL THE NOBLES AND ALL THE IMPORTANT VILLAGE LEADERS LIVE! YOU DARE TELL ME THAT _YOU'RE _LIVING AT THE IMPERIAL RESIDENCE??"

"I--!" Solo stepped backwards a step. "That's what it says here!" She pointed at the piece of paper meekly. Sheesh. This village is already crazy to her.

"DON'T TRY AND FOOL ME! COME WITH ME IMMEDIATELY!" The man barked at her and stalked off, dragging the poor girl with him.

After a few moments, Solo and the man passed by an old medicinal herb garden. It was on the way to the outer Imperial Palace, where most of the nobles and the skilled elite ninja that were chosen as guards resided.

"Where are we going, sir?" Solo asked meekly. She stared at the huge herb garden around her.

"Shush! Just follow me." The mean man huffed.

Solo sighed to herself. Suddenly, a _snake_ slithering around the garden caught her eye. It's scaly looking skin shone in the sun and sent shivers up Solo's back. Her knees quivered and she gulped, suppressing her fear.

"U-uhmm… can we keep going, sir?" She asked, eying the snake. Her mind suddenly flashed with images of a hazy past. Yet she could not make out what the images were. It was as if something was preventing her from remembering.

"What, what??" The large man grumbled, annoyed. He looked at the snake. "What? You're afraid of snakes??" He said in disbelief.

Solo nodded slowly, still shaking.

Suddenly the snake coiled up, noticing intruders in it's garden. It opened it's mouth and the long scissor-like fangs stretched out as it hissed loudly.

Without thinking, Solo stumbled backwards, letting out a small gasp. She turned around and jumped into the air, fleeing and running towards the opposite direction.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??" The man shouted angrily. He took off right after her with full speed as she darted away from the garden and it's inhabitant.

Beads of sweat gathered on Solo's forehead. Fear. Fear. Fear. It pounded her head and she sought for somewhere to hide.

Her instincts told her to duck for cover. She needed to find somewhere to get away from the snake. Suddenly, without warning, she crashed into the windows of a building and landed in a large formal looking office. She landed with a heavy thud on the ground, shattering glass and rubble around her.

Expecting pain, she lay on the ground, eyes wired shut and lips clenched.

Nothing.

She peeked through her eyes.

Sand?

Indeed. Solo opened both eyes to see grains of sand flutter in the room around her. It puzzled her at first. Did she land in a hill of sand? How could that be? She was clearly in an office room.

"Oi." A voice said.

Solo, who was still lying on her back and facing the ceiling turned her head slowly to search for the source of this voice. She slowly sat up. No pain at all! Amazing! Did this sand she land on save her?

Sitting up, Solo's glance found a young man standing in the center of the room. A giant sand gourd was on his back and a reserved but fierce expression was on his face. Red hair and raccoon-like eyes. He certainly wasn't surprised that Solo had crashed into his room.

Her mouth opened but no words came out. Only a perplexed expression.

Voices rang outside.

"_She's in the Kage's office!"_

"_Hurry! Protect Kazekage-sama!" _

"_Stop the intruder!"_

"Oh." Solo's first word was. She got up hurriedly to her feet and peered outside the broken pane of glass she flew into. Some guards and shinobi were rushing about, obviously alerted that some deranged girl broke into the Imperial Palace. That man that yelled at her before was also there.

"What are you doing here?" The young man solemnly questioned.

Solo whipped her head around, as if suddenly aware that he was there. "—Oh! I--!" Her cracked reply came. The reality of this strange situation was hitting her.

The door behind Gaara was kicked down. Several strong looking shinobi rushed into the room with swords drawn and eyes glaring. "_Down on your knees, intruder!" _They all shouted directly at her.

Plop. Solo dropped to her knees. Her eyes widened with innocence and fear.

Some of the guards were surprised. She dropped to her knees so quickly? Was this really a venomous intruder that was going to assassinate the Kage by bursting into his office with such force?

"What's your name, girl?" A shinobi barked.

"Solo Mitsukai!" Her obedient reply was.

Now everyone was puzzled. Obviously, this was just a weak little girl. In fact, her chakra was nothing special. Her innocence was shining brightly in her eyes.

That big man that picked on her earlier barged in. "AHHH! INTRUDER! ARREST HER, SOMEONE!" He pointed at her with magnificent triumph.

"OH! Be quiet, Kuwabara!" The shinobi all shouted at the big man.

"EH?" Kuwabara cried, taken aback.

Solo blinked.

"Enough." Gaara signaled, tired of the shouting and sudden intrusion of so many guards.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama!" All the guard ninja declared. They knelt on the ground, awaiting Gaara's orders. Kuwabara, the clumsy man, knelt down later than all the rest, messing up the sync.

Gaara stepped a few steps forward, eyeing this strange girl.

"Solo Mitsukai. What's your purpose here?" He asked icily.

Solo, who was aware of the severity of her accidentally barging into the Kage's office, looked up at Gaara's eyes, scared. Her own purple eyes twinkled with fear.

"I—I—" She couldn't explain why the hell she was in his office.

"I can explain, your greatness!" Kuwabara got up and rushed to Gaara's side, with caution. "This girl—" He pointed at her. "—Walked into this village just moments ago! I questioned her carefully and she THREATENED me!! She even said that she was plotting to kill you, Kazekage-sama!"

Solo's eyes widened. "What?? Kage-sama, I didn't do tha—"

"Oh, don't you talk back to me!!" Kuwabara chirped with rage.

"Kuwabara, that's enough." Gaara said in a melancholy tone. "Everyone here knows your tendencies to fables. I say this girl was walking along quietly when YOU were the one to approach and bully her."

_Eep. _Kuwabara crinkled with fear.

"Kuwabara, kneel down!" Someone from behind barked.

Kuwabara dropped to his knees, embarrassed.

"So you came here moments ago." Gaara stated. "What are you doing in this village, I must question."

"Oh!" Solo fished out the crinkled piece of paper again. It was the one with the messy handwriting that she showed Kuwabara earlier. "I just moved to the Sand Village, Kage-sama! Uhm, this note was included in the letter I received." She immediately reached into her dirty messenger back and fished out another letter and some papers.

Gaara took the papers and first read the note.

He quietly scanned the note and his eyes crinkled in surprise. His eyes glided to the girl, kneeling pathetically on the ground. The shinobi around the room all bubbled with anxiousness. What did that note say?? Who is this girl?

"You're…" Gaara asked quietly. "The new captain of our guard squad?"

**A/N: **Harhar, this story may be a little drab at first, but I assure you—IT WILL BE INTERESTING! HAHA! So the twist? What's the Captain of the guard squad? Well, indeed it will be shocking and amusing. So find out when Chapter 2 comes out, my lovely readers!

By the WAY, IMPORTANT: I know there are a gazillion Gaara and arranged marriage stories, but I guarantee you that it's not what you think it's going to be. This is a soap opera with much drama and I hope you'll appreciate the fond and bittersweet moments shared between the two main characters: Gaara and Solo.

:D R&R, my friends!

J! This story is dedicated to you and your insane passion for Gaara.


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